Why This 15 Year Old Book is a Must-Read for Physician Entrepreneurs

2023-10-21 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kkm3Hq8gSw

Transcript
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[Music] [Applause] today we're going to be continuing our series of books that influenced me on my physician entrepreneur Journey this book came out in 2008 and what it does is it offers practical advice from scaling businesses from Zer to $100 million yes that's $100 million it presents a framework of success and it does so by giving you the analogy of how we grow up as humans from infancy childhood adolescence to maturity and these are what they consider their four stages of

any successful business uh you may not have heard of this book before but it made a big impact on my career So today we're going to cover the book ready fire aim 0 to 100 million in no time flat by Michael Masterson on this episode of bootstrap MD hey guys this is Dr Mike whing welcome to another edition of bootstrap MD the podcast for healthc care and physician entrepreneurs we've been covering a series of books that had influenced me early in

my career and I still periodically refer to them these days and I think they're still as relevant as they were back then so the book that I'm going to be covering today is called Ready fire aim 0 to100 million in no time flat and this book came at in 2008 by the author Michael Masterson which incidentally is actually a pseudonym for a gentleman named of Mark Ford so who is Mark Ford Michael mat Masterson uh he's at extensive experience as an

entrepreneur um his first business was in at age of 11 and he launched different successful Ventures I first heard about him because I used to subscribe to his newsletter which was called early to rise uh and I think it's still published today on early to rise.com uh it was a book on just productivity and motivation and business advice um that book uh covered you know from health wealth wisdom it developed into $20 million business and then he then he took his

talents to aora publishing which is a big um publishing company and it talks about uh investing and real estate uh Etc uh and you know very successful company specializing in these creating information products for these U areas so ready fire aim by Michael Masterson um the best way that I can describe it is you know obviously it takes off from the Ready Aim Fire that if you shot a gun or you know had a blow an arrow that's usually what we

refer to it but the idea is that you launch you launch it out and then then you do tweaks to to the business over time to make it more successful um as I mentioned at the intro it talks about the different stages of a business and that's what he talks about in the book and he organizes it through different Revenue Milestones so from zero and then it goes to $1 million in Revenue which that part as you're having your startup you

should be focusing on sales and customer acquisition from 1 million to 10 million you should transition from being a a startup to Now growth Phase 10 million to 50 million is where you should scale operations and expand your market share then if you are lucky enough to get 50 million to 100 million plus that's when you're establishing a very strong Market position in your industry a big topic that he discusses in the book is about sales and that our primary focus

shouldn't be on creating the best logo it should be focusing on getting that sales feels business owners should spend at least 80% of their time focusing on selling it's critical to figure out how to effectively sell products and services in your business so you can reach that mass critical mass of customers before you scale even further now since the book has come out you know even at recent conferences I still hear about the book talked about even though it's probably not

as well known as some of the books we often think about in entrepreneurship such as think and go rich and as a man thinketh um but you know it's highly praised among entrepreneurial circles and it's frequently recommended as a resource when you're growing your business um and I enjoyed it because it gives you really straightforward action advice that covers everything so I want to cover on this episode how it can apply to you as physician entrepreneurs and I jotted down some

key principles uh that I got from the book and uh well let's cover it now so an important principle that I got from the book is that you need to start small think big so specifically what do you mean by that needs to be focusing on once you're launching your product you should have an MVP also known as a minimum viable product we hear that a lot about that in software it's like you just need enough to get it out so

you've probably heard of software they get it out into the masses so they can uh it I mean there is no software out there that just has a 1.0 version right 1.0 1.1 they continually improve it over time getting feedback uh from their customers and this is what you should be focusing on uh when you're getting out your product or service that you want to launch um while you test it while you're keeping an eye on future expansion so how can

this apply to physician entrepreneurs let's say you're launching uh practice and maybe you're going to be doing uh a tellah health and maybe you're going to just be focusing on chronic conditions maybe you're just focusing on type two diabetes but you're doing so to like really get good at doing that so maybe later on you have an eye on like helping all chronic conditions for that for that uh group that you're um um you shouldn't be putting all your eggs in

one basket and saying you know I'm going to I'm going to service all but instead you know you know un you unless you have unlimited resources you don't want to get stretched too thin so you want to focus on that specific area do well in that and then move on so this is almost like I shoot shoot from the hip approach that you should instead of just thriving or instead of just striving for Perfection you should just get it out see

what the market tells of the product and then quickly tweak it and start generating Revenue getting it out to it quickly and this is an important thing and this is where I often see is you got to start asking for sales right if you say I'm going to give it out for free that is going to be worth buying right everybody wants stuff for free but it's importance of actually receiving money so then you can have the resources to expand your

business this is what he feels will lead to long-term growth and success now where businesses often fail is they strive for Perfection at the beginning and then they never get started again think of the title ready fire Aim so by getting your product out there you're getting some validation like hey people are actually wanting this and they know because they're actually giving you money for it so then you know that this is the right place that you can go to you

can get your Market viability um so deliver your focus should be on getting your product or service out there that people will buy it they'll like it and they'll recommend it to others Perfection comes is after they've paid you and then you can continue receiving feedback as a doctor I wasn't used to asking for help especially when it came to subjects outside of medicine but then I found physician coaches.com in an instant I found hundreds of experts to help me in

all aspects of Life on areas I was afraid to ask dealing with burnout starting a side gig money management even help with my marriage and the best part nearly all experts are Physicians themselves after reading their profile and a quick chat I knew I found the right Mentor for me at physician coaches.com help from professional colleagues is just a click [Music] away now another important principle in fact it covers a lot about the book is selling and having worked with many

doctors we're not used to selling even though we sell every day we sell when we want to convince someone to fill this prescription for their medical condition we're we sell when we urge them to lose weight and start exercising to improve their health so we sell we we are persuaders but I know many uh entrepreneurs are very reluctant to selling you feel uncomfortable about it but that's the only way that you're going to know to make sure that your product or

service is validated and he and in the book Michael masteron says that nothing really happens until a sales is made just because people are want your free stuff doesn't mean they're actually going to buy revenue revenue is the lifeblood of any business so um successful businesses focus on effective selling marketing and advertising and you need to understand the basics of selling so you can get guaranteed sales and give the book covers some practical advice on effective selling um so when you're

launching your new business where they say entrepreneurs make mistakes is they focus on secondary tasks such as making sure your logo is is perfect or making sure the furniture is has the same fun as as on patient you want to attract for your for for your business those are all nice but at the end selling is going to be the one that's going to keep your business keep the lights on on your business uh so sell as soon as possible even

if the product isn't perfect perfect and avoid wasting time doing secondary tasks that gets to my next principle is ABT always be testing so you got your product out there people are buying it but now you want to get their feedback and so it's important to always be testing to increase the chances of success in your business the product just has to be good enough it doesn't have to be great but by getting it out to the market quickly this is

where you're going to see if your product is actually going to be a winner for you uh you're going to get valuable in input from your early adopters um so getting the product and service out there getting that validation getting great feedback so what do I mean by that so let's say you're going to create a course to help Physicians who are burnt out okay but you don't know if your course is great and I I see so many people spend

so much time spending months maybe even years trying to create the perfect product you can create a product just by um saying I'm going to have a series of four webinars and doing it live over those four weeks and how your product is going to get better is each week or at the end of each at the end of the course you're going to ask them like what did you like what did you didn't like were there some topics that we

cover too much were there topics that were Miss that you'd like to see that's going to be crucial because each iteration of your product is going to or your course is going to get better and better and better so always be testing is a fundamental aspect of any business for guaranteed success another important aspect of business that I liked is innovation versing just copying or modeling and I think modeling is actually a better word sure you can come up with the

the first Uber uh you know obviously that was a business that disrupted an entire industry or Industries you could create PayPal another new payment method that was never seen before however consumers are more interested in adapting or having their own twist on existing products than completely new ones I can't even imagine you know deciding to you know if you were the like the first user of of uber and say you know instead of taking taxi I'm just going to get in

a stranger's car that can be very difficult and uh if you know anything like that it takes time to create change in in humans right it's what consumers are much more interested are adaptions of existing product so what is what are things that are out there already that could be better for example Facebook you know we' we all use it but before then there was a a social media platform called frenster they kind of had the same principles but Facebook saw

what they liked and didn't like about frster and made it better nobody remembers who frenster was so you don't always have to be first mover you can just be the one who does it better and there are products out there today that and and businesses that are out there today that have um dis perfected it Starbucks wasn't the first coffee shop but they perfected it over time they've been selling coffee what for decades hundreds of years we've been selling it they

just improved it over time and that adds to my next indicator is that people like excitement and so in the book it covers about how excitement about an idea can indicate its potential for success you know are they people who let's say you're having a course out there are they talking about it are they going on social media um ideas that excite higher ex excite people will have an increased chance of success have you told this this idea to um uh

better than a friend or family because they'll tell you what they want to hear to strangers or people you don't know and see what they think about it so trust your intuition you know based on your own experiences when you're launch your product um and trying to get as much feedback as you can and that leads to a successful Endeavor brainstorm multiple options before deciding to um go with the one that that that's best but just remember you can always tweak

it we want to make sure that the product or service is getting out to the Mathes so the antithesis is try to avoid boring ideas boring ideas are likely to underperform you know I would rather have when I started my companies I would rather have you know the lwh hanging fruit that there was already a chance of there's already already examples of success already and then have my Twist on it to see what I can do to make it better then

again going into an entirely new uh industry or a new product in in Industry um that I really don't know if it's going to succeed or Not Another important principle I learned from the book is the importance of acting swiftly what's great when you have when you're lean when you've got a small team or even maybe yourself is that you can act swiftly you don't have to rely on big boards or or a you know a number of of Yes Men

to to to move fast on product or service and Michael Masterson the author of the book would say that actually being faster is probably better than actually trying to be perfect strategic thinking and practical planning are essential but it must be Balan by having Swift execution when you act swiftly in business you know speed uh is the is the one of the major factors for a success of a business being bold um and and being fast encourages and exhilarates empowers and

it builds morale within a group uh by moving fast you're going to attract attention admiration and help in selling products whether you love them or hate them it sounds like Elon Musk you know he goes quickly when he when he finds something that he he wants it generates excitement and more often than not he's successful in his Endeavors of course you need to be prudent of course you make sure you have the resources for this um so so you can grow

but at the end avoid spending all your time just on you know taking incremental steps um and that swiftness is going to really help you out and really give you the momentum to have a successful company another important aspect of a business and it's probably um it's probably not rocket science to do this when you're when you're launching your business you need to have a a great team around you the strong team is the backbone of any successful Enterprise uh sure

you're going to be lean but just like for you know if you're opening a practice you want to make sure it's not just you but you've got a team of nurses uh Physicians assistants perhaps in your business dieticians front desk people customer support managers medical assistants those are all part of your team right and they want to be Diversified they want to have different skills and be able to you know I enjoy where everyone H has input and they encourage that

in the book especially when you're coming up with their ideas you know get different experiences everybody has different um travel different uh you know roads in in in in their life and what they've learned can help you with brainstorming uh generating multiple ideas and then you can then narrow them down and then move forward with things that the the group feels is the most viable or at least in your leadership team is the most viable I enjoy have you know I

enjoy when I I hire you know I think Talent is you can't really can't put a price on it and to have talented individuals in you know in the end of businesses is is just a Consortium of talented people and let them grow let them be nurtured let them uh be good at what they're good if they're one is good at get customer support you know make them accountable for that particular area and Tackle problems head on are are these important

things that you need to have make sure you scale smartly put systems in place so you know automated systems are there areas in your business perhaps you could use artificial intelligence to help defay costs um so there all all these different things of course you need to think about business isn't easy but it's a series of systems it's a series of processes it's a series of people that will get your business to move forward you want to hire professionals you want

to hire Stars superstars in your emplo to manage and elevate your business the book includes about another important aspect that I think you have need to have is just enjoying the journey I work many entrepreneurs we work you know the the saying goes we work 80 hours a week so we don't have to work 40 hours a week and that can be that is so I love that that datle because it's so it's hard work but it's it's to understand that

it is a journey I've talked to about how a business you should treat it as as a game don't get too serious in it but you know that's why I love being in businesses because I just love the you know what's next what what are the opportunities that are out there make sure that you've got work life balance you don't let it consume you you know what are you doing all of this for and always have that in the back of

your mind um before entering this journey and again I love having businesses that can create products and services that can help Mankind and womankind uh and help Society overall so what are those ideas if you have those ideas uh in your head ideas are great but at the end it's the implementation that is is where you're at going shine so to sum up ready fire aim is a great book that I encourage you to look at it's been out there for

a while as I mentioned it changed my career and I think it's is still as useful as it was back then so I hope you like the podcast just remember guys as I just mentioned entrepreneurship is a journey you're going to have your UPS you're going to have your Downs do something simple each day to get your closer to your goals and keep moving [Music] forward [Music]